AIBU for getting annoyed at colleagues being on their phones etc!

[Kitchendrama1]

I work in a team and our managers don’t watch us, have 121s or control workflow. Laid back yes.

We changed jobs and taken on more staff (from other teams).

However my colleagues talk a lot and spend a lot of time on their phones. One was even drawing the other day.

I’m getting anxious about it work because management aren’t checking work. As a result I’ll just do things and work for my contracted hours but be productive.

Friends are saying I shouldn’t care what others are doing and concentrate on my own work. However we all share work - what doesn’t get done one week gets done the next.

I’ve been with my present management team for five months and haven’t had 121s. They also don’t control work flow etc.

I really wouldn’t mind if I just had my own work to day, but it’s literally time work.

People say I shouldn’t care, but I get anxious about it. We are all the lowest entry level so I don’t have authority.

[quote KnobJockey]@Kitchendrama1 I appreciate that you want extra support, maybe you feel like you need it. I just want to point out- that's not the way to progress. Most companies will not want management who are rigid and inflexible. You may not feel like you are, but from this post, you are coming across as of you need structure, routine, accountability, and you are struggling to function without these. But dealing with people, not robots, means that you are flexible on those things to achieve the best results for your team.

I really think you should have a little ponder on what you want most.

Is it things to be done by the book? You can't get this in this place/ the current team, so time to look elsewhere.

Is it progression within this company? Have a look at what the current management team are offering, how can you emulate their success and fit in with them? Is it.possible to do this, given you think they're doing their jobs poorly?

Is it job happiness? What will really make you happy, and can you achieve it here?[/quote]
Quite simply, if my team mates weren’t drawing at work, avoiding calls, constantly taking or on their phone…. I wouldn’t be making this post.

@Kitchendrama1 but they are, it seems like management are aware and aren't interested in changing it or the impact it has. So my thought remains the same- knowing what you now know, and that it is not going to change and is impacting your mental health, you need to consider your options as above.

However, I get the feeling that you think that because they say they're different, they're going to change and become different. Actions speak louder than words/ policies in this case.

[quote KnobJockey]@Kitchendrama1 but they are, it seems like management are aware and aren't interested in changing it or the impact it has. So my thought remains the same- knowing what you now know, and that it is not going to change and is impacting your mental health, you need to consider your options as above.

However, I get the feeling that you think that because they say they're different, they're going to change and become different. Actions speak louder than words/ policies in this case.[/quote]
Not sure what you mean by the second paragraph.

I’ve asked them to fund a course (they are wanting to do this anyway and sent around an email etc) and get back on LinkedIn/job sites. Absolutely only doing the bare min now, I’ve been working myself silly and management clearly don’t care and neither do my work colleagues.

It has been absolutely your choice to work yourself silly though.
Do the work that you have, in the hours that you’re paid for.
Within that, do not do anything that isn’t your responsibility that has legal /safety implications - you were a bit vague on what you’d done that sounds like it was.

@Kitchendrama1 I mean that because the policies say they'll do 121s every month, or because it's probably in some company rules that phones can't be used, or x procedure is to be followed if work isnt completed, you're expecting them to do it even though they've proved that those rules aren't worth the paper they've been written on through actions.

I'm glad to hear you're switching off from it a bit 😊

@Cocomarine

It has been absolutely your choice to work yourself silly though. Do the work that you have, in the hours that you’re paid for. Within that, do not do anything that isn’t your responsibility that has legal /safety implications - you were a bit vague on what you’d done that sounds like it was.

I’m conscious and want to make sure I do a good job. It’s just my nature and yes from now onwards I’ll mimic my colleagues.

I’m not longer going to try and cover managements back (in a way) by knowing the job better then they do (they’ve both done this job before but they haven’t done an aspect of the job that the restructure has bought about).

Not worth it.

^sorry I didn’t respond to your post in one post.

Yes we have a legal responsibility that should be meet. It’s literally a 10 min job that should be done daily (it’s a bit heavy after the weekend) but if it’s not being done it can cause service delays/legal implications/complaints.

All management need to do is assign someone that job or my team need to say “ill do that job”. Neither is happening.

End of the day management will take that flack but I’m just a bit annoyed about their reactive instead of proactive response.

Honestly OP, this just sounds like a poor match in terms of working environment for you.

I know plenty of people who would love it!

Try to just focus on your own work and start looking for something else.

[quote KnobJockey]@Kitchendrama1 I mean that because the policies say they'll do 121s every month, or because it's probably in some company rules that phones can't be used, or x procedure is to be followed if work isnt completed, you're expecting them to do it even though they've proved that those rules aren't worth the paper they've been written on through actions.

I'm glad to hear you're switching off from it a bit 😊[/quote]
Yep!

I feel like I’ve completely given 100% and everyone around me either not taking an interest in my work, performance of the team and ultimately morale.

The benefits of 121s outweigh the negatives. If someone sees no benefit in them, all they need to do is complete the paperwork (it’s three questions) and go about their work.

I don’t know where I would find the policies. I know from the director of the team it’s a no phone policy but other teams you do see occasionally on their phones. If you look at my team, 6/10 they are on their phones.

Getting to the point where I see the light…. And yes Monday will be a new day .

11) build rapport with my management so they are aware of my strengths, weakness and can help develop me

It's not gonna happen, OP.

From this job you can get these positives:
*paid time off of household duties
*money
*Filler in your cv
*maybe chance to develop skills -- maybe not possible, but may be some opportunities if you look hard
*some networking (probably)

You're not going to change the company culture. Find the positives you can, even if that is simply clarifying what kind of job you want to move to instead.

Why be childish about mimicking your colleagues?
That’s just silly.

I’ve worked plenty of jobs where I’ve put in more than some around me. I didn’t piss about and dumb it down to their level. I just did my work - and, ultimately, progressed further them then. That doesn’t always happen directly in that workplace - it can be indirect, having more to convince new employers at interview for example.

One job I did as a student, was early days of call centre work, and each call was logged - we had to give an authorisation code out on each call, basically - so every day we’d have a sheet of paper with long lists of who had called (it was a business to business set up) and what code we’d given. Mind numbing. It was a standing joke that I’d fill a 25 line call sheet when the others were on 3 or 4 calls. It was so BORING doing nothing - so whilst they did fuck all (no smartphones then!) I picked up every call I could. Honestly - could not give a shit that I was doing more than them. Not my problem, and the day went faster for me when I was occupied. Before that, I worked on a checkout… I was the one that always called out, “I’m free!” when colleagues would enjoy the break from scanning.

Why are you going to throw your teddies out of the cot instead of just doing your work, to the best of your ability, within your paid hours?

@Kitchendrama1

^sorry I didn’t respond to your post in one post.

Yes we have a legal responsibility that should be meet. It’s literally a 10 min job that should be done daily (it’s a bit heavy after the weekend) but if it’s not being done it can cause service delays/legal implications/complaints.

All management need to do is assign someone that job or my team need to say “ill do that job”. Neither is happening.

End of the day management will take that flack but I’m just a bit annoyed about their reactive instead of proactive response.

Or your team need to say, I’ll do that job. So - what’s your problem with just doing it then? You describe it as being entirely within protocol for the proactivity to do to come from within the team. Why not just do it? It will reflect well on you - even if your current managers don’t notice or care, at some point it will, even if that’s only in an external interview one day where you can big up that the daily task with legal ramifications was sat with you, because you were the natural leader / most conscientious / most reliable / most however you want to spin it. If you are appropriately trained and confident to do this 10 minute task: JFDI. If you like, email your manager and say, “as Task X must be done every day, but it’s not always clear who will pick it up, I propose that I’ll do so, and do it at 09:00 each weekday. If that’s OK with you, can you please propose who’ll be my cover for holidays on it?”

I get that useless management is irritating, that lazy colleagues are frustrating - but you sound quite jobsworth about this task. Why do you need to have it assigned to you?

So right now you are in a team of people who sit on their phones/draw all day on company time and don't have much motivation or attention to detail on their work. Thst would also frustrate the hell out of me but I wouldn't be going above and beyond to sweep up the resulting mess after. Anyway this isn't about me. It sounds like if you got a promotion you'd be then working with managers who let people sit on their phones all day, don't assign tasks and don't check work is done efficiently. Yes you'll be senior and able to tell your current colleagues to get off their phones but how much do you really think you'll be able to change if you're the only one doing it? Doesn't sound like you'll have the support of the other managers? How are you planning to cope with that as it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

@Natty13

So right now you are in a team of people who sit on their phones/draw all day on company time and don't have much motivation or attention to detail on their work. Thst would also frustrate the hell out of me but I wouldn't be going above and beyond to sweep up the resulting mess after. Anyway this isn't about me. It sounds like if you got a promotion you'd be then working with managers who let people sit on their phones all day, don't assign tasks and don't check work is done efficiently. Yes you'll be senior and able to tell your current colleagues to get off their phones but how much do you really think you'll be able to change if you're the only one doing it? Doesn't sound like you'll have the support of the other managers? How are you planning to cope with that as it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Yep exactly!

So what I’ll do is, hopefully get the job above my current pay grade, get it on my CV, finish a course I want to do and get out of there.

Can’t believe I’ve been so dumb :(

Unless you have a good relationship with other senior managers, to be honest I'd carry on working towards leaving. If you ever have any opportunity to give feedback you can either point out that lack of monitoring isn't fair on those who are pulling their weight, or say that you'd appreciate more recognition for those who are more productive.

I find it odd some posters don't have 1:1s. I only manage 2 people in terms of progression/performance but catch up with them each once a fortnight, when there isn't much going on it's just a 15 min chat to make sure they're supported and near the beginning/end of the performance year longer. I have 6 people reporting into me functionally on my project and speak to them weekly one on one just to give them a private platform to raise issues. I'm accountable for their output so of course I want to keep in contact to check in on them/motivate them/understand how we can improve things. My husband manages a team of 12 people and has formal 1:1s every month.

@FlumpsAreShit

Unless you have a good relationship with other senior managers, to be honest I'd carry on working towards leaving. If you ever have any opportunity to give feedback you can either point out that lack of monitoring isn't fair on those who are pulling their weight, or say that you'd appreciate more recognition for those who are more productive.

I find it odd some posters don't have 1:1s. I only manage 2 people in terms of progression/performance but catch up with them each once a fortnight, when there isn't much going on it's just a 15 min chat to make sure they're supported and near the beginning/end of the performance year longer. I have 6 people reporting into me functionally on my project and speak to them weekly one on one just to give them a private platform to raise issues. I'm accountable for their output so of course I want to keep in contact to check in on them/motivate them/understand how we can improve things. My husband manages a team of 12 people and has formal 1:1s every month.

Yes I find others thinking 121s pointless is unusual.

I’ve decided I don’t care anymore…. Just work from home and do my own thing.